Knicks-Nets rivalry starting to get noisy in Big Apple

NEW YORK — The rivalry ended for the regular season the same way it began two months ago and a borough away, with fans streaming out of the arena shouting each other down, alternating a sing-song "Brook-lyn" countered by a louder — maybe angrier — "New York."

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By Steve Popper

recordonline.com

By Steve Popper

Posted Jan. 22, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Steve Popper
Posted Jan. 22, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

NEW YORK — The rivalry ended for the regular season the same way it began two months ago and a borough away, with fans streaming out of the arena shouting each other down, alternating a sing-song "Brook-lyn" countered by a louder — maybe angrier — "New York."

It has taken halfway through a season, a full season worth of head-to-head matchups and every last second on the clock to determine that the Knicks and the Nets are, well, rivals.

Although the Madison Square Garden scoreboard read 88-85 in favor of the Nets, when J.R. Smith's 3-point attempt at the buzzer just barely missed, the NBA schedule makers were the real losers. For all of the hype that has surrounded the two teams since the Nets made the jump from New Jersey into Brooklyn, trying to lay claim to some portion of New York City, the four regular-season games between the two are done.

The teams have split the season series, with three of the games going down to the wire. With this latest victory, the Nets have pulled within one game of the Knicks in a battle for the Atlantic Division lead.

"I think it's a good rivalry right now," Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "It's a very good rivalry. It has the potential to be even better."

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"It is the beginning of something that is going to be there for a long, long time," Carmelo Anthony said. "These games that we play against Brooklyn definitely are going to be tough, hard battles. As a Knick we definitely look forward to that challenge and looking forward to playing them every year four times."

That is as close to an admission that the Nets are worthy of being mentioned in the same breath, of being a threat to the Knicks' dominance in the city.

"It's great for the city," Smith said. "I don't necessarily call it a rivalry yet because they haven't put in enough work yet. Not to take nothing from them tonight. I think it's still minimal.

"Two and two against them stinks. Just like kissing your sister."

It's not Yankees versus Red Sox yet, and to tell the truth, it's not even Knicks versus Celtics or Heat yet. The Knicks spent a decade down, and the Nets have dropped in recent years and even this season disposed of their coach, Avery Johnson, after just 28 games. That move played out in public like reality television, with the Nets the featured attraction on NBA TV's "The Association" and Johnson left to play the role of the jilted lover.

In a ratings grab, the Nets promoted Carlesimo, a basketball lifer with his own checkered past, as he was the victim of the most famous player protest when Latrell Sprewell choked him at a Golden State Warriors practice. Resurrected as an interim coach, he has revitalized the Nets — who are 11-2 since he took over — and in turn created a rivalry worth watching, even if it will be conducted now only while watching the standings.

Perhaps the best sign that the rivalry has reached a renewed level of intensity was that the normally amiable Anthony seemed to be seething afterward, upset at himself for misfiring on a turnaround jumper along the baseline with 12 seconds left that could have put the Knicks ahead and upset that he was left to explain how the Nets had stopped him.

The crowd was loud, and if the Knicks were left wondering why they didn't match the enthusiasm of their fans, the Nets were just enjoying being part of something like this. They have gotten it in their new home, the Barclays Center, and a few of the black-and-white clothed fans were shouting their support at the end, too.

"The place was loud," the Nets' Brook Lopez said afterward. "It was exciting."